Are you looking for a healthier option for your holiday meal? Try out this easy and delicious Christmas salad recipe! Packed with nutritious ingredients and bursting with festive flavors, it’s the perfect addition to any holiday spread.
The flavors of the fresh citrus, salad greens, and pomegranate meld so well together, especially with a honey mustard vinaigrette, making it the perfect side dish. I love to serve it with roasted rosemary potatoes and New York Strip Steak.
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
See the complete list of ingredients on the recipe card below.
- Spring greens: or mixed greens like arugula, baby spinach, baby greens
- Nuts: almonds, pecans, pistachios, pine nuts, and walnuts.
- Cheese: I like feta because it works well in this salad, but you can substitute Parmesan, goat, or blue cheese.
- Oranges: Preferably seedless mandarins. They are easy to peel, full of flavor, and bite-sized.
- Pomegranate seeds: also known as pomegranate arils. If you can not find them, try dried cranberries or blueberries.
How to Make Christmas Salad
This is the summary version; see the recipe card below for the complete list of ingredients and the instructions.
- Whisk the minced garlic, champagne vinegar, Dijon mustard, honey, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil while whisking continuously.
- Add your spring greens, sliced almonds, feta cheese, mandarin oranges, and pomegranate arils to a large bowl. Drizzle the dressing over the salad and toss to coat.
Make It Ahead
You can make the honey mustard champagne vinaigrette up to 2 days in advance; however, remove it from the refrigerator about 45 minutes before serving to warm to room temperature, then whisk or shake well.
Prep the oranges and pomegranate arils up to 24 hours in advance and store them in an airtight container in the fridge. Assemble the salad up to 1 hour before, but do not toss with the vinaigrette until ready to serve.
Preparation Tips For The Best Christmas Salad
- I encourage you to use fresh, seedless mandarin oranges for optimal taste, but you could also use canned ones in a pinch.
- Pomegranate arils are just the red jewels found inside a pomegranate. They contain a sweet nectar surrounding a white seed in the center. Around late November through December, grocery stores will have pomegranates available, and some stores may even have the arils already removed and available for sale.
- This salad is equally delicious with a honey-poppyseed dressing.
More Salad Recipes
Christmas Salad Recipe
Ingredients
Honey Mustard Vinaigrette
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- 2 tablespoons champagne vinegar
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons Dijon Mustard
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- ¼ cup olive oil
Christmas Salad
- 12 ounces fresh spring greens
- ⅔ cup sliced almonds
- ⅔ cup feta cheese
- 4 seedless mandarin oranges peeled and segmented
- 1 pomegranate seeded
Instructions
- Whisk together minced garlic, champagne vinegar, Dijon mustard, honey, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Slowly drizzle in olive oil, whisking continuously.
- Add spring green, sliced almonds, feta cheese, mandarin oranges, and pomegranate arils in a large bowl. Drizzle the dressing over the salad and toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Nutrition
Are you on the hunt for more delicious recipes? Follow Small Town Woman on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram.
https://www.smalltownwoman.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Beth-1.pdf
Mary
What cheese could I sub for feta? It looks beautiful & will make for Christmas, thank you.
Beth Pierce
Try a Mexican crumble cheese called cotija.
Erica
I am looking forward to making and eating this salad. I know I could just leave it out, but could you please suggest a substitute for the feta cheese? Thank you!
Beth Pierce
You could try a crumbly Mexican cheese called Cotija
Lucille
What can I use in place of pomegranates ?
Beth Pierce
Dried cranberries
Kristina
Literally. The best salad I have ever had. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Beth Pierce
My pleasure Kristina! So glad that you enjoyed it.
Allyson Gallagher
Made dressing ahead of time…used rice wine vinvgar. Added baby spinach & kiwi.
Made this for Christmas dinner.
Everyone loved it!
Beth Pierce
Thanks so much Allyson! So glad that everyone liked it! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Rebecca
This salad looks amazing!
I don’t have champagne vinegar though. Any ideas on what I could replace it with? Thanks!
Beth Pierce
Sorry I missed this. You could use red wine vinegar or even apple cider vinegar.
Brooke
How long is the dressing good for in the fridge? Thanks!
Beth Pierce
2 days
Melissa
Beautiful and delicious! Great for the for the holidays!
Heather Lynn Sharpe
Thank you for the lovely recipe! Looking forward to trying it this Christmas Eve. My father-in-law is allergic to apples and pears and I’m always on the hunt for recipes that don’t include them since EVERYONE seems to put them in there somehow, haha.
Beth Pierce
Thanks so much Heather! Enjoy!
Toni
This is such a fun and festive salad! Such a great addition to our holiday menu!